Promise ultra ATA 133 controller

[minshal1@msu.edu]

Don-

I would recommend not getting that controller.  I have a Promise
ATA-100 controller, and although it is supported in Linux, the
support is not mature.  I'm assuming the ATA100 controller uses 
the same driver as the ATA133.  I've been getting stable operation
on the latest 2.4 kernel (which I had to custom compile), but the
support is still not great.  For example, if I have a master drive
without a slave drive attached, the kernel randomly locks up during
disk access.  Getting that conroller to work was a fairly difficult
process in Linux.  On the other hand Win2000 support was great.  So,
my recommendation is don't get the promise ATA100 or above for Linux
yet.

-Ben

Don Chorman <chormand@pilot.msu.edu> said:

> Hello,
>         I am contemplating getting a new ATA133 hard drive.  However, I
> would have to use an add on controller, since my mobo only supports 
ATA66.
> According to Promise's data sheet, Linux is listed as supported.
>     As of now, I don't have Linux on this machine, but I plan on 
installing
> Suse 7.3 in the near future. I went to Suse's website, and the 133
> controller is not listed in the supported hw database (the 100 is). I am
> nervous about buying this HD/Controller setup because it is not listed 
in
> the supported hw database.
>     I also googled around, and found that some folks could get the
> controllers working by re-compiling the kernel with the added support. I
> have no experience with re-compiling the kernel, and I am afraid that I
> would not even get Suse to install, if it "didn't like" the controller.
>     Is it possible to add the support for this card during an install 
(if
> Suse didn't recognize it)? I'm assuming that a driver disk would 
accompany
> the controller.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Don
> 
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